Description:

The paper discusses the nursing faculty shortage and attributes it to the increased age of the current faculty and the declining number of years left for them to teach, the expected increase in their retirements, the non-competitiveness of their compensation and their lack of master's and doctoral-preparedness that will enable them to fill the need for nurse educator positions. The paper considers approaches for attracting the younger RN generation into the teaching path and asserts that if a shortage in the nursing industry is not addressed, a domino effect may happen that will seriously endanger not just the nursing profession but the entire country.

From the Paper:

"Linda Allen shared the passing of the Nurse Reinvestment Act of 2002 "to provide loan forgiveness for Nurses who obtain advanced degrees and go on to teach as a Nursing faculty." She also told about the strategies made to attract more applicants like "public relations campaigns, loan forgiveness programs, educational recruitment, nursing consortiums, and a focus on a better working condition."
"However, despite the above efforts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics still reported that "enrollments in Nursing programs at all levels have increased more rapidly in the past few years...but many qualified applicants are being turned away because of a shortage in nursing faculty." This shortage, according to Karl Yordy, "is a critical problem that directly affects the Nation's nurse shortage, which is projected to worsen in the future years."
"Why then is the Nation experiencing a Nursing Faculty Shortage? If the Registered Nurses in the country are a workforce that comprises the largest portion of health care providers, why is there a shortage in its Education industry?
"Linda Allen enumerated the following reasons for the shortage: increased age of the current faculty and the declining number of years left for them to teach; the expected increase in their retirements, the non-competitiveness of their compensation and their lack of master's and doctoral-preparedness that will enable them to fill the need for nurse educator positions."